Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is so twisty, so unbelievable that you would swear it was straight out of a movie. And somehow it's all real. Even though this case has barely been reported on outside of Ohio. But when our reporter started digging in, sources started coming forward with secrets

that they have kept for decades, tips that they have never told police and information

that totally reshaped this story.

And that's the story of John and Shelley Markley. December 15, 1995, 1995, is a cold Friday in Bristolville, Ohio, around the time schools are letting out for winter break.

But when 15-year-old Ruth Markley steps off the bus just after 3 p.m., she isn't having a happy start to her holidays.

You see, one of her dad's sisters just passed a couple of days ago,

and the service is tonight. So being the eldest of five, Ruth's probably planning to do everything

she can to make this day a little easier on her parents, John and Shelly Markley.

Except when she gets home, her parents aren't there, which never happens. I mean, even if they're

15 minutes late,

they call one of John's sisters who lives nearby to come over and wait for the school bus.

But when she goes inside, it is a little weird because it's almost like they were right there

just moments ago. In the kitchen, she sees a coffee pot still on its burner boiled dry and two

used coffee mugs on the kitchen table.

And as she looks around, other things feel a little off as well. Like now she's realizing that

the door was unlocked when she came home. She realizes that her dad's truck was gone. Her mom's purse

is still there on top of the fridge, and normally she wouldn't leave home without it, or her cigarettes and lighter, which are laying on the counter. And honestly, more than even the

purse, like, that is a huge red flag for Ruth. Her mom smokes a pack a day. She is never without her

cigarettes. So Ruth goes to check her parents' bedroom, and when she gets there, she finds that

their clothes for the funeral service

have been laid out on the bed. And then she spots it, the thing that actually sends chills

running down her spine. Her dad's gun cabinet is unlocked and open. And in all her years,

...